Report: General Motors to award UAW members $5K contract-signing bonuses

View full sizeMichael Wayland | MLive.comWorkers at General Motors Co.'s Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant stand under an American flag Wednesday during a ceremony to open labor negotiations with the United Auto Workers union.

Sept. 17, the Detroit News: "Under the agreement, GM also has agreed to reopen its Spring Hill, Tenn. plant; base profit-sharing checks on North American profits, rather than on U.S. earnings; and give entry-level workers an increase in their hourly wage."

The $5,000 signing bonus is half of what UAW officials were reportedly asking for as part of the new contract.

Earlier this month, four unnamed sources told Bloomberg News the UAW was seeking a signing bonus of as much as $10,000.

UAW officials remain in contract negotiations with Ford and Chrysler. The current contracts were extended earlier this week, after they expired at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.

View full sizeAP Photo/Paul SancyaGeneral Motors Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson, left, shakes hands with United Auto Workers President Bob King at a news conference at the start of national contract negotiations at the General Motors Hamtramck Assembly plant in Hamtramck, Mich., Wednesday, July 27, 2011.

According to the News, UAW leaders will brief local leaders on the agreement Tuesday in Detroit and members will have a chance to ratify the agreement in a vote within the next seven to 10 days.

"In these uncertain economic times for American workers and faced with the globalization of the economy, the UAW approached these negotiations with new strategies and fought for and achieved some of our major goals for our members, including significant investments and products for our plants," he said.